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MONTREAL — The suspicious look grew on Cory Clouston’s face Monday at the Bell Centre when he was asked if he’d already made his choice — a tough one, for the right reasons — as to which goalie he would start against the Habs the next night.

Evidently, he thought the media was trying to get him to reveal that secret before he traditionally does, the morning of the game.

“Right now our decision is mostly made,” Clouston said, breaking into the type of grin that is easier to spot around the Senators’ dressing room these days. “That’s good, though. Isn’t that leading the witness? Isn’t that what that’s called?”

There’s been one blip on each of their screens since Nov. 22, but Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliott have otherwise been stellar of late. The Senators have given up just eight goals in six of their past eight games as whichever masked man has been in their goal has given them, even with their sputtering offence, a chance to win.

During much of his almost two seasons in the NHL, Clouston has had to choose between Leclaire, who is inconsistent and often injured, or Elliott, who has been mostly just inconsistent.

But now, both are playing well and if Elliott didn’t have a minor shoulder injury that could probably use a little more rest, Clouston would have a one of those difficult calls all coaches like to have in selecting who to use in an important game with the leaders of his division.

Okay, so we’re just guessing he’s going to use Leclaire against the Habs.

“The thing is, we need to keep them both sharp, both ready, because you never know what happens, as far as injuries, sickness,” said Clouston. “Both players are playing well and it gives the team a lot of confidence.”

Clouston credits goalie coach Rick Wamsley with helping Leclaire, who he also worked with in Columbus.

“He’s seeing the puck well,” Clouston said of Leclaire, who finally bumped his save percentage over .900 with Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Rangers. “The rebounds aren’t as big as they used to be. I just think he feels good about his game. I think Rick has done a tremendous job with him. They have a good relationship, as with him and Brian.

“(Leclaire’s) anticipating, so he’s not had to make as many of the so-called kind of spectacular saves. A lot of the pucks are coming to him. I think that’s an area of the game that him and Rick have worked a lot on.”

Leclaire has not had nearly the kind of offensive support as Elliott. In his nine starts leading up to Sunday’s game — not including the Oct. 14 game in which he made just three saves before leaving with a groin injury — the Senators had scored just 12 goals for Leclaire. So the three Chris Kelly scored against the Rangers were a veritable explosion.

“I’ve only played 10 games,” shrugged Leclaire. “If it was 50 games, it’d be different. Goals are going to come by. I’m not worried about that.

“We’re playing against some good goalies, too. It’s not like we’re not creating a lot. Some nights it’s hard to score goals in the league.”

The 81 goals surrendered by the Senators is still most in their division, but that’s been more a product of the team’s overall play. The goalies are considered to be the team’s most consistent players thus far — ironic in that the position was the biggest question mark for the team coming into the season.

Leclaire laughed when asked if he uses the doubts as motivation.

“I guess it’s always like that every year in Ottawa,” he said. “You guys talk about that stuff. I got the good heads-up before I got into town, that it was going to be a lot of talk about goaltending. You can’t really worry about it. Try to do my thing everyday, Brian’s playing well, too. We’re trying to give the team a chance to win.”

The Senators desperately need a win Tuesday in Montreal, both to keep the ball rolling and keep the division-leading Habs within their sight. Another irony: Last January, when they ended a five-game losing streak, it was with a victory at MSG. They made it two in a row with a win in Montreal, then proceeded to extend a winning run to a franchise record 11 in a row.

To hear Kelly talk, their embarrassing 4-0 home loss last Thursday to the Sharks may have been the wakeup call the Senators needed.

“I think after the San Jose game, there was kind of that sick feeling that we hadn’t been playing well, that we needed to get back to the basics, as cliche as that sounds,” he said. “I thought we played a good game against (two nights later vs. Buffalo). Unfortunately, we lost in a shootout, but then we kind of carried that over into Sunday’s game, where we had a great start and it just kind of went from there.”